Sorry for the wait. I hope you all enjoy this chapter. Please review and thank you to everyone who has reviewed already.
ryoandasuka4ever - Thanks for the review, I hope this flashback answers your question but if it doesn't then please PM me and I'll try to explain in more detail.
criminally charmed - I've always seen John as being close to Scott (because of them being the two eldest) and Virgil (because of their similar personalities). In the film he also seems to be closer to Jeff than the other boys are. Thank you for the review and for being patient lol.
montogma - I like the connection too, it's something that I've always seen there but not everybody writes about. Thanks for the review.
Potterwatch - Lol, in terms of the film, I really don't like Alan and because this is a movieverse it is very tempting to kill him...but, because he is your favourite, I will spare him a gruesome fate. Thanks for the review. Hope you enjoy this chapter.
hardyboyfansrock - Thank you for the review. Lol you sound like a five-year-old child on the day before their birthday :-) I'm glad my story has you excited.
bluesweetie1978 - I'm not gonna tell you yet, you'll have to wait for the final chapter. Thanks for the review.
A/N - Ladies and Gentlemen...it pains me to tell you that...the next chapter of Rescue Me will be the final chapter. I hope you enjoy the last two chapters. Please review. Thank you all so much.
Fifteen-year-old Scott sat quietly in class, copying down the notes that the teacher had written on the board. Outside he could hear laughing and talking as the two younger years had their lunch break. The eldest Tracy sighed to himself. Virgil and John would be out enjoying the sun right now. His year's lunch break didn't start for another hour.
Quiet talking was allowed but Scott was lost in his own thoughts. Most of them were about his mum.
Scott's mother had died a few years ago but she still dominated Scott's mind. Everything he did he thought, what would she think of this?
The teachers had been baffled by his sudden extra effort in class and improving grades. Scott hadn't been a bad student before; he had just been…average. Mostly C grades with a few Bs in subjects like Maths and Technology. Scott's main problem had been that he didn't try hard enough.
Now his grades were mostly As, even an A in Technology (a/n – is that right in the U.S or do you just call it A+?). Scott's brothers had been singing his praises. Even Jeff managed to lift his head out of his paperwork occasionally to congratulate his son. Scott hoped that his mother was proud of him. Virgil and John always assured him that she was.
Scott
Scott was suddenly dragged out of his thoughts by someone calling his name. He looked around but no one was looking in his direction. Deciding it was just someone tricking him he turned back to his notes.
Scott!
The voice was accompanied by a strange impact in his stomach, almost as if someone had just punched him. He looked around again. Nobody was near him or even looking at him.
Scott! Help me!
Scott froze in shock.
"…Virgil?"
"You say something Scott?" His friend, Edward 'Harris' Roberts, asked him but Scott didn't answer. The thumping in his stomach continued. Sometimes he even felt blows to his face. For some reason his nose also began to ache.
Something was very wrong.
"Scott…are you okay? You look a bit pale…" Harris began to get worried about his friend when Scott didn't answer again. The young Tracy looked like he was going to be sick.
"Miss Clarke, something's wrong with Scott!" Harris quickly alerted the teacher at the front of the room. She looked at her star pupil with concern. He didn't look in pain, he looked worried. Worried to the point of sheer terror.
"Scott…is there somewhere you need to go?" She asked quietly after telling the other students to stop being nosey and continue with their work.
Scott looked up at her and nodded, silently thanking her for her understanding. She nodded with a gentle smiled, giving him permission to leave the class.
He got up slowly and silently made his way out of the room. As soon as the door was closed behind him he ran.
Scott!
His brother's voice sounded in his head again. He was scared and sounded like he was crying. Scott skidded to a halt, closed his eyes and tried to work out where to go.
Acting on gut feeling he began running towards the creative arts building.
Once he reached it he didn't go in. Instead he followed his feeling and went around the back towards the bins.
What he found on the other side made his blood boil.
On the floor, curled into a ball, with tears down his bruised face and blood flowing from his nose over his split lip…was Virgil.
Surrounding him were three boys in John's year, a year above Virgil and two years below Scott. They were kicking him and sneering at him.
"Enjoying that runt? Maybe that'll teach you to not be so smart…my teacher thinks I need English help from you! A first year! Well, I'm sure she'll change her mind when your grades start to slip, and they are going to slip, aren't they runt?" They were tall and quite strong, no smaller than Scott and towered over Virgil.
Scott stayed back for a brief moment. He pulled up his sleeves and pressed a hidden button on his watch that sent a signal to John's watch. Once the signal had been sent he stepped forward.
"Get away from my brother!" He snarled. Virgil saw his brother and his pained face immediately flooded with relief. The three boys spun around. For the briefest moment a look of fear flashed across their faces, but once they remembered he was outnumbered the fear disappeared and was replaced by evil smirks.
"What are you gonna do Tracy? This little runt has had it coming." Scott clenched his hands into fists and as soon as one of them came running towards him he sent the fist flying. It connected with the boy's jaw and he was sent sprawling across the floor. The other two came at Scott together and no matter how much he tried he couldn't block all their hits. They suffered a few painful hits from him but not enough for him to beat them.
"Alright, I'm getting bored of this, you two hold him while I finish off the runt." As soon as the words were said Scott instinctively stepped in front of Virgil, blocking the path of his tormentors. They all just smirked and stepped forward.
But for two of them their smirks immediately turned to shock and panic when they were sprung from behind. They landed on the floor with a smack and were sat on by John and his friend Collin. The two second years had fury in their eyes when they saw what had happened to Virgil.
"You two are defending this runt? Why bother? He's pathetic!" The last remaining bully spat.
"NATHAN BENTLEY!" A deep voice behind them roared and the bully immediately went white. Scott showed his own smirk when the Principle, Mr Garret, emerged behind them. John and Collin allowed their captives to stand up straight.
"You three, my office, NOW!" Nathan quickly obeyed Mr Garret's order, "Scott Tracy, I will need to speak to you too, but I will let you deal with more important matters first." Mr Garret glanced at Virgil and then turned to follow Nathan and his two friends. Scott looked at John.
"Did you bring him here?" John smiled but didn't nod. Instead he turned to look where the Principle had just walked away from. Watching them silently…was Miss Clarke.
"Make sure he holds the bridge of his nose, Scott, I would rather he would go to the Nurse's office but if he doesn't want to then you'll have to get some ice to take care of those bruises yourself," She told him while looking worriedly at Virgil, "If his nose is broken then he will have to go to the hospital…now I have to get back to class." She said with an apologetic tone. Virgil obviously didn't like her staring at his awful state so she turned to leave.
"Miss Clarke?" Scott called to her and she turned back round to look at him, "………thanks." Scott smiled gratefully and her and she smiled back warmly, giving a smile to everyone there, especially Virgil.
"Collin, I think you should go and find Mr Brookes and Miss Hanson (a/n – anyone who guesses where I got those names from gets a cookie!) and tell them that Scott and Virgil will not be able to attend their classes today." She told Collin who nodded and, after receiving thanks from Scott and John, left to go to the English and Maths departments. Miss Clarke left to go back to the Technology block.
Scott focused his attention back on Virgil who was now sitting up but in a hunched position with his legs held close to his chest.
"John, could you please go to the lunch hall and ask for some ice in a bag?" Scott asked quietly. John nodded and left the two in silence. Scott watched his brother, who still had tears running down his cheeks. Guilt gripped Scott inside. He had had no idea his eleven-year-old brother was being bullied, let alone on this scale.
"I'm sorry Scott," Virgil quietly broke the silence, "I'm sorry for making you miss class." Scott was stunned.
When Virgil's words had sunk in Scott had to pinch himself so he didn't laugh. He moved over to his middle brother and wrapped him in a gentle hug, aware of his injuries and so avoiding his stomach.
"You really think I care about that? I was scared for you Virg; I couldn't just sit in class while you were in trouble."
"H-How did you know I was in trouble?" Virgil asked shakily. Scott shrugged slightly.
"This'll sound crazy but I heard your voice…it was almost as if you were calling out to me." Scott thought about Virgil's voice and how it was as clear as if Virgil had been sitting right next to him.
"I was…" Virgil said almost in a whisper. Scott immediately looked down.
"You were?"
"I know it's stupid……but I thought that if I called your name hard enough in my head, then maybe you would hear it and come to help me…I never thought it would really work." Virgil explained while looking up at his big brother and noticed his split lip. Scott smiled down at him.
"Well, it definitely worked."
"Scott, your lip…" Scott brought his fingers up to his bottom lip and winced when he felt the split.
"Must have got it when one of them punched me." He shrugged but Virgil just looked confused.
"No Scott, I saw you before then went towards you, the cut was already there." Virgil insisted. Now Scott was really confused but then he looked down at Virgil again. His brother also had a split lip, in exactly the same place.
"Virgil…whereabouts did they punch you?" Scott asked slowly.
"They punched my face a couple of times but it was mostly in the stomach…why?"
"No reason…" Scott muttered back as he sat in stunned and confused silence…
Scott massaged his aching arm. His leg was now in a material cast. It was still painful but at least now he could walk fine without collapsing
"Ready to go, Scott?" Penelope spoke behind him and they stood within sight of the tunnel entrance. Parker was with them, along with the ten muscled body guards that Penelope had arranged. Scott nodded and they headed towards the entrance. Three guards were there waiting for them. One of them spoke into a radio, obviously warning the others that company had arrived.
"Four, two and seven, go." Penelope ordered calmly. Three of her body guards sprang forward and began fighting the three black shirted guards.
The rest of the rescue party moved into the tunnel. Two more guards were met further down and engaged by bodyguards five and six.
At the start of the basement the remaining five guards were waiting for them. Penelope sighed quietly.
"Oh dear, I fear my manicure is not going to survive this occasion but I suppose it can't be helped," She turned to Scott, "I'm afraid you'll have to go on without us Scott, Parker and I shall be needed here, are you sure your leg will be alright?" Scott nodded.
"I'll be alright, I have to go and find them…I'll see you later." He said with a sarcastic sigh. She smiled at him.
"Yes, you all will…go." She said as Parker and her bodyguards began to fight the basement guards. He nodded and watched her go and confront the remaining guard.
Scott turned towards the end of the basement and began to run. His leg ached in protest but he didn't care.
Eventually the fighting in the background became a murmur and the gloom ahead of him shifted. His eyes managed to make out a cage and he ran towards it, knowing his brothers would be in there.
"Virgil?" Scott called out. He could just about make out three figures it grey uniforms sitting in the cage.
"Scott?" The figure on the left stood up and Scott ran towards it.
"Hey boys, you alright?" Scott asked as he reached the cage. Gordon looked tired with a bruise on his temple and Alan looked scared but relieved that Scott was there. Virgil just looked calm, as if he knew Scott would arrive.
"It still works?" The middle brother asked. Scott smiled at him.
"It still works."
"Ah, wonderful, now all I need is your brother John and then your father and then I have the full set." A cold voice said behind them.
Scott took a deep breath and then turned around to face...the Hood…...
Sniff 'The end must come'...and it's going to come in the next and final chapter...wipes away tear...please review!